PENSION CREDIT TAKE UP GRINDING TO A HALT- TEATHER

3.58.40pm UTC (GMT +0000) Fri 4th Feb 2005

Local Lib Dem MP, Sarah Teather , has discovered that there are likely to be in the region of 1,600 households in Brent East eligible for the new Pension Credit but not receiving it.

"The Labour Government should be ashamed that so many of this country's poorest pensioners are still living so far beneath the poverty line. Things have gone from bad to worse with the new Pension Credit.

"These figures show that our worst fears are being realised - large numbers of vulnerable pensioners are set to miss out on the help they desperately need.

"The only guaranteed way to ensure that pensioners have dignity and security in old age is through a decent state pension, payable as of right."

"That is why Liberal Democrats would guarantee £100 a month more on the pension at 75, over £130 a month for couples over 75, lifting a million pensioners out of means-testing at a stroke."